Does Anyone Think Daniels is Championship Material?

[Uncle Sam]

Chris could be a good champion, he´s a great wrestler, he´s got charisma, but he needs some time, he isn´t as over with crowd as Joe or AJ yet, maybe next year hje could get a great title run

I think it's really now or never for Mr. Daniels. The man is - excuse me while I check Wikipedia - 38 years old. OK, so that's not that old. But for a cruiserweight with a high-flying style it just might well be.

Not to mention that TNA's been planting the seeds all along and they've just been refusing to blossom. Best example is his feud with Sting. They were meant to have a prolonged program but TNA decided it wasn't working and bailed the fuck out after one pay-per-view.

 

[Nature Boy]

I think Christopher Daniels would make a fantastic TNA Champion.

I've been a fan of his since I first saw him in ROH in 2002.

Watching him, Joe and AJ develop over the past few has been wonderful in my opinion.

Daniels is a great Wrestler and I really like his Promos.

I think he works great as either a Face or a Heel.

AJ Styles is a great wrestler, but I just don't believe him when he is on the mic.

However a feud for the title between these two I think would be just awesome and the in-ring action would be superb.

I think Daniels would be the logical person to win it from AJ Styles.

I certainly would be all for Christopher Daniels getting the TNA Title.

Of course, like any Champion it depends on who he is booked with, but I think Christopher Daniels could make a fine Champion!

Maybe not for long, and maybe just once, but I really think it should happen!

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I'm still not 100% sold on Daniels "don't call me Christopher" on being championship material. I have always like Daniels and what not, but I have never saw him as a main event star. To me he's lacking something, but I'm not too sure what it is. Him & AJ are both great entertainers, but Styles outshines him in everyway and I think that ends up hurting him.

I'm enjoying his feud with AJ and when he's competing for the belt against Styles, it seems legit, I just don't think him Vs. Angle, or him Vs. Joe would feel like a mainevent worthy match. He just doesn't have what it takes to be at the top, and I don't think he'll ever get their.

I could be wrong though, and if he can really button down, and shine with his feud with AJ, anything is possible, but I'm not sold on the idea of Daniels being TNA's Champion.

 

[Coco]

I don't buy that any cruiser could have taken Daniels' place in the three way matches with Joe and AJ, or even his one-on-one matches with Joe and AJ. Why? Sabin was in a three-way match with AJ and Joe once and it never quite lived up to even the lesser work of the Daniels, AJ, and Joe combo. Guys like Sabin have had one-on-one matches with AJ and Joe, and they were never quite as good as the ones with Daniels were. Daniels must have something that the average cruiser doesn't.

Sure, maybe he's only where he is now because of who he's associated with and what matches he was brought up a level during. But it is what it is, and playing the "What if?" game isn't going to change the special things that Christopher Daniels has done for TNA.

It's kinda like talking about one of my favorite matches of the decade, Eddie vs. JBL at JD'04. People say stuff like "Anyone could have done what JBL did!", "It wouldn't have been special without the blood!", or "Good thing the crowd reacted, otherwise nobody would have cared!" Just like with Daniels, saying things like that are useless. It is what it is and everything added up to some pretty decent results. No use going on about hypothetical things that never happened as though that would somehow discredit that match or Daniels.

Why is Daniels championship material? Decent, almost passionate mic skills (as proven on Impact this week), more in-ring ability than the average wrestler would know what to do with, well-established audience connection, AND chemistry with guys who are main eventing currently, like AJ and Joe. Is promoting a guy because he works well with other top guys really that much of a sin?

Everything (including how one meshes with other talents) is important when looking at who a wrestler is and placing him on the card. You need to see the total picture. You could say Daniels wouldn't be where he is without AJ and Joe lending him a hand. I say that neglecting the work he's done with them in some sort of hypothetical is like saying Undertaker would be pretty shit if he had no arms. It's an absurd thing to say, because it is what it is.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Very good point. I was also impressed - and somewhat persuaded - by Daniels' promo on Impact this week. It was then that I thought, "Shit, this might actually be quite good."

In the ring, however, I'm still assured that he's little more than your average cruiserweight. He gels well with AJ and Joe, as has been pointed out, but I've seen little evidence that he can gel as well with anyone else. As I pointed out, his feud with Sting was ended before it had even begun and I've never been much a fan of his Ring Of Honor work.

Fake edit: And I'm not getting the point about Undertaker not having any arms. The Undertaker will always have his arms (probably) but Daniels won't always have AJ and Joe.

As it is, I think Daniels has somewhat been the victim of internet hype. When everyone sells you as the best, most versatile wrestler to have ever lived, you're going to disappoint. There's no way around that.

I should point out that I don't actually dislike Daniels. In fact, I'm actually a fan of his. I was a particularly big fan of Staniels.

 

[Coco]

A few weeks ago, a respected member of this board made a thread about Christopher Daniels being kinda shit. He let us know that he feels Daniels is only where he is because of his association with AJ Styles and Samoa Joe and that he has yet to prove in TNA that he can mesh with any of the real heavyweights. He accused Daniels of being just another cruiserweight. I am here to tell you all that tonight, this was proven false once and for all. As if there was any doubt!

One of the signs some Daniels doubters like to point to that Daniels can't hang with the heavies is his aborted feud with Sting a few years back. Yep. A feud that was never given a chance to pan out against a guy who's seldom had a good match in his entire TNA run. Daniels was supposed to raise that aging hack's game in 3ish minutes of ring time? I think not. Daniels' failure in that feud proves nothing.

Look to two weeks ago on Impact. Daniels was in the ring with Abyss. Daniels showed a charisma the likes of which most average cruiserweights no none, played the chickenshit heel role to the hilt, and looked like he deserved to be in the ring with a man well over 300 pounds.

This week, Daniels showed he's no mere high-flier, having a rather novel match by main-stream American wrestling standards, going hold-for-hold "European style" with a MAJOR heavyweight prospect in Desmond Wolfe, having an intense confrontation that left the viewer wanting more.

Two different short matches. Two effective little stories. Two different heavyweight competitors. No sign of average cruiserweight antics. I'll be damned if that doesn't earn Daniels a gold star from the naysayers!

On top of all of that, Daniels has had a chance to shine on the mic in this feud with AJ Styles. He's everything on the mic that Styles wishes he could be. He's a compelling heel character. AND, he's a snappy dresser with a more distinct and marketable look than AJ.

Being a notch below Styles in the ring isn't a sign of inferiority and I want none of that talk in this thread. Styles is one of the best in the world. Not being as good as him is no sign of a poor wrestling. To put this "average cruiser" talk to rest once and for all, I've never seen Sabin or Williams match up as well with AJ as the exceptional Daniels does.

Daniels may never be the top champion of a major company or the main focus of the show. But he's a great talent who is well deserving of our praise and thanks for the quality entertainment he gives us. He's a supporting character who gets overlooked most of the time but heading into Final Resolution, I think we should take a time-out and show Daniels some love. He deserves it.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I didn't think he was world championship material until just recently. Sure dropping his first name was odd because "TNA Champion Christopher Daniels" sounds far better than "TNA Champion Daniels".... but in terms of in-ring ability and mic ability.... Daniels is great. If the current champion were anyone but AJ Styles then I would see him having a good shot at taking the championship. I think that he will one day be TNA Champion, but probably not right now. It might take a while before Daniels is a world champion because I think Styles is probably going to have a longer reign and hold onto the belt for a while.

 

[Skorpiunz]

Chris Daniels has always been one of my favorite wrestlers in the business. I loved curry man and the old fallen angel gimmick with the glasses and when he had a first name XD
In regards to your question. Before last week i believed Danials would never be championship material but his match with Desmond Wolfe, I'm sorry, has to be the best match i have seen ever period. THey both proved to me that a good match isn't about throwing poorly timed punches. The crowd even chanted "this is awesome"

Daniels has some issues i'll admit: the eyeliner and the designer diaper. However he has won a place in my heart with last weeks performance. Muscle doesn't make a champion.

 

[PEP3]

It's probably blasphemy to any TNA fanatic, but I've always found Christopher Daniels far more entertaining on the mic than AJ Styles. Daniels has significantly more charisma, if less crowd response, than Styles could ever hope to have.

Secondly -- and while it's petty it's how I feel -- even having grown up in the south myself, I can't get past the fact that AJ sounds like a redneck straight out of the trailer park when he speaks. Someone needs to invest in some voice coaching classes for the guy! In our world, sadly, sounding like a good ol' boy from Georgia does not read as "World Champion." It sounds like the set-up for a Jeff Foxworthy joke.

More importantly, people demonizing Daniels for having incredible in-ring chemistry with Joe and Styles is ridiculous. That kind of chemistry is what the greatest feuds in the history of pro wrestling were built upon. The in-ring chemistry between Ric Flair and Sting is what turned The Stinger from a little-known southern wrestler into a household name. That kind of chemistry is what allowed The Von Erichs and The Freebirds to become one of the most legendary feuds in the industry.

Rather than demonizing Daniels for having that kind of chemistry with Styles and Joe, they should be -- and seem to be, at least for the moment -- rewarding it with the highest-profile matches on the TNA card. When competitors have the kind of chemistry these men do, they should be putting its many different facets on display on PPV after PPV. And, I would suggest, a title swap somewhere along the line would seem not only appropriate but almost expected.

Daniels is finally being given a terrific opportunity to shine near the very top of TNA's card, which is long overdue. I simply wish he was still going more under his guise of "The Fallen Angel," a gimmick I rather liked.

It's one of the first times in years TNA is actually letting the people who brought them to the dance like Styles, Daniels and Joe display what makes TNA so unique and special. It sucks to see people shitting on Daniels now that he's finally getting what's coming to him.